Rocky Road - It's One of Life's Best Flavors
As a long-time business owner, I have experienced many times what a rocky road it can be to stay in front of challenges and opportunities. Growing and staying relevant can be painful. But while a scoop of adversity is rarely my dessert of choice, it has often been a great teacher and essential to success.
Let's be honest. For all of us, serving people is more challenging than ever before. Whether those we serve are business clients, students, alumni, donors, volunteers, employees or a board of directors - we know they have choices and that the competition is compelling. Their needs are ever changing and growing. They have less time, money and staff resources to spend. But there are no fewer expectations of us.
How do we keep their eyes on our menu? One thing is certain. Think about it too long and opportunity melts in our hands.
Thriving in the new normal means exploring less familiar roads, and sailing over the bumps by trying new approaches and flavors to find the sweetest ones. I'm all in. Are you?
What are the ingredients to sweet success?
Two client segments Perfect Image is passionate about serving are educational institutions and non-profit organizations. They need to maximize their investments and protect their brands just like large organizations and businesses, but far too many settle for average or low quality print materials. One reason is limited budgets, but the main reason for their sacrifice is that too few printers are able or willing to move from a manufacturing mindset to a market-based reality that focuses on their specialized needs.
For these organizations, a printer must do more than put ink on paper, and we make it our job to help create their roads to success in more and better ways.
For us, and I truly believe this applies to all of us, success today demands that we know with unprecedented clarity the people and organizations we serve, and pull out the stops to give them what no one else can - or will.
Check the sell-by date
Organizations in every industry are witnessing how choices, behaviors and loyalties can shift overnight. It takes more than a glance to really know and understand the people and organizations we serve, who they are becoming, their changing requirements and how we will answer them.
At Perfect Image, we are ardent observers of trends in commercial printing. Not long ago our industry was on the cusp of radical change. We saw it coming. Print buyers needed more, so printers would have to start concentrating on services beyond the printed piece - or perish.
In our quest for refinement, we discovered that Perfect Image was already on the right path, actually for years, in offering additional services to print buyers. Some include online self-service, marketing support solutions, and integrated marketing tools that allow our clients to blend traditional print with electronic marketing.
Why did we go down that path in the first place? The short answer is that we are never satisfied with the status quo, always pushing beyond the traditional parameters of our industry. The bigger answer is that we believed these services would translate to higher value for our clients' marketing dollars. The industry and our clients confirmed this was a sound belief. Look at today's increasingly digital world. We are. Thousands of printers no longer exist because of industry shifts and failure to answer developing needs.
A larger answer still is that while we believe in the "no margin, no mission' maxim, we also know that scale and profitability alone cannot dictate quality, service and innovation excellence. Every client needs all we've got, particularly mission-based organizations.
Sweet success means letting go of the rest
I won't lie. I have struggled in letting go of lofty ideas and long-held practices. It hurts to curb dreams and old habits die hard. But calculated sacrifice gives way to a laser focus and abundance of opportunity. Today, all our energies are concentrated on providing greater value for our clients' current and emerging needs. Our tagline to be "More than a printer' has never had greater application and meaning.
What has made you successful to date? What are your true and abiding strengths? And especially, which clients, donors or other constituents rely on you most for what you do best? These are your true barometers for success. I encourage you to raise the bar on your strong points and let go of the rest. Do all you can to make your most valuable relationships - the lifeblood of your organization - better, richer and stronger.
I know I'm not alone in believing that success is one of life's best flavors. Rocky roads make success that much sweeter, forcing us to grow, adapt and remain relevant. If you have the privilege of leading an organization, as I do, maybe you have also seen how these experiences create opportunity to support those we are blessed to serve in more meaningful ways. I believe we all have what it takes to dig deep and dish up the right flavors - and put sprinkles on top by constantly perfecting what we do best. On a personal note, a good friend recently asked if I could do anything I wanted right now, what would it be? Without hesitation I said, "I am doing it." Now that's the cherry on top!
Ira Jackson, Jr.
President
